My wife and I tried the cash envelope thing 8 months ago and I snuck $65 back from groceries last month just to feel something

Quinn Mitchell · 2026-09-23T16:45:05.905887+00:00

So 8 months ago my wife and I sat down at our kitchen table in Aurora and set up the cash envelope system because we kept blowing $900 a month on random stuff. We each get $70 a week in fun money and the rest is separated into groceries, gas, and bills. The problem is I'm the one who does the grocery runs, and last month at King Soopers I noticed I came in $65 under budget for the week. I know the right move was to tell her and roll it into savings, but instead I pocketed it and bought two video games off the used rack at the GameStop in the mall. She found the receipt in my jacket 5 days later and we had a weird 2 hour talk about trust and money. I get that the envelope system works, we've put away almost $2,400 since January, but I hate that it made me feel like a kid hiding a candy bar. Does anyone else hide small purchases from their partner, or is this just a me problem I need to fix?

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My wife and I tried the cash envelope thing 8 months ago and I snuck $65 back from groceries last month just to feel something | Budgeting Wins - Rigidtalk